


You're not exactly light

by tothelight



Category: Choujin Sentai Jetman
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:08:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21815680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tothelight/pseuds/tothelight
Summary: Ryu broke into a run, aiming for a nice deep doorway to a supply shed. There was someone there already, but that was okay, he could share. He crowded into the doorway with the other person, the rain making long spikes of his hair, and turned to grin breathlessly at them. “Sorry about this-Gai.”“Yeah, that’s my name. You should know, you say it so goddamn often.”Ryu said mildly enough, “I’d say it more often if you let me talk to you, instead of running away.”
Relationships: Tendou Ryu/Yuuki Gai
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6
Collections: Another Toku Holiday Special (2019)





	You're not exactly light

**Author's Note:**

  * For [oneatatime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneatatime/gifts).



“After that, we finish off the day at nineteen hundred with a thirty minute recap plus a light dinner. So the first order of business tomorrow is that we meet back here at oh six hundred for maintenance on Tetra Boy,” Ryu said, pointing at the whiteboard. “Everyone should go and get some rest now!” 

Energy and dedication permeated his voice. He was exhausted, but he had to set a good example. Couldn’t ask them to do anything he wasn’t going to do himself. 

“Fuck you,” Gai muttered, stalking off. 

Ryu frowned, watching him go. At least he’d stayed until the end of the briefing. He knew by now that there wasn’t much point in objecting to Gai’s language. 

He was used to Gai running off. He was used to the angry looks and the huffs. He’d thought, however, that they’d moved past this, and there was a certain quality of defeat in the way that Gai was behaving lately.

“He’s so stupid,” Ako said cheerfully from the other end of the table. He got up, and tapped her sneakers so she’d take them off the table, noting that Kaori and Raita were still taking notes. 

“He really could expand his vocabulary if he chose to, yes,” Ryu agreed. 

Ako snorted as her sneakers thumped onto the floor. He was reminded again of how much of a schoolkid she was, along with being a dedicated fighter. He hadn’t understood other schoolkids while he was at school, either. 

“You really don’t know what I mean? – you really don’t know what I mean.” 

The next day’s timetable was, of course, interrupted by a Vyram attack. He’d expected it, and had built in a few hours window for ‘additional maintenance or fighting’, but unfortunately it took much longer than that. 

Rather more unfortunately, it had also involved him being ejected from Jet Hawk as it exploded around him. 

Head ringing, he extended his arms, waiting for his wings to snap out as the wind whistled past him. Kaori and Raita were still in the air. Ako and Gai fought on the ground. That was another difficulty, and something they needed to spend more time on in training. They were good at fighting as a team at last, but much better as five instead of twos and threes. Ako was nimble and fearless, but much more used to working with Raita or Kaori. Gai himself was a hard hitter and better than he had been about teamwork, but far less controlled than Ako. Ako was a more intuitive pilot than Raita, who could take harder hits than Gai. Kaori was coming along in both spheres, and worked very well with Ako. 

This wasn’t the best combination, though the only way to get better was to practice it. They were struggling. 

All this flashed through his mind in a moment, and then he realized he was also struggling. His suit blipped and faded on his arms, and then disappeared completely. His brace fizzed and sparked on his wrist. The ground approached rapidly. 

In his suit, he had a chance of surviving this. Without it, not so much. He steeled his jaw. 

“Cross Changer!” 

. . . the suit didn’t reappear around him.

A blur of black below. Oh no, a Grinam sneaking up behind Gai. Ako was busy with her own and couldn’t intervene. 

Ryu could try to transform again, which probably wouldn’t work. Or he could assemble his Smash Bomber, which had a high probability of knocking him out from using it without the protection of his suit. That meant he’d be unconscious when he hit the ground. Definitely a good idea. 

“Smash! Bomber!” 

He fired at the Grinam, and Gai’s head jerked around as it exploded. The force snapped his own head back. He saw another blur of black as he passed out. Good. 

He woke up to a massive headache and a running monologue.

“- idiot, stupidest man who ever lived, who drinks hot milk anyway, your stupid brace only needed to be reset, you could’ve done that and then helped both of us without pulling a stunt like that and making me catch you, you’re not exactly light, you idiot, do reds get the lobotomy before or after they get the suit-“

“G-Gai?” 

“ _Ryu!_ ” Oh. He’d woken up to a massive headache, and a running monologue. . . in Gai’s arms. 

The debrief was as quick as he could make it, mindful that everyone was exhausted after such a long fight. He wasn’t feeling too great either, if he was being entirely honest with himself. But he’d be all right. 

They left for their quarters on the Sky Force base. It wasn’t far, but the skies had decided to open and rain pelted down on them. The others had already left, of course, otherwise Ryu would have gone back to find umbrellas. 

Except it was too wet. Ryu broke into a run, aiming for a nice deep doorway to a supply shed. There was someone there already, but that was okay, he could share. He crowded into the doorway with the other person, the rain making long spikes of his hair, and turned to grin breathlessly at them. “Sorry about this- _Gai_.” 

“Yeah, that’s my name. You should know, you say it so goddamn often.” 

Ryu said mildly enough, “I’d say it more often if you let me talk to you, instead of running away.” 

“I don’t run away! You fell on me today and I didn’t run away!” 

Innately fair, Ryu said immediately, “Thank you.”

“I don’t want your fucking thanks!” 

They stared out into the rain for a while. 

Ryu finally acknowledged to himself that he was starting to feel very tired. Of all of it. Not just the fight, but the _fight_. Arguing with Gai all the time like this. 

He didn’t mind the occasional argument about battle strategy, or one of them teasing the other. Those could be quite fun, and cemented that they were part of a team together, even when Gai was very wrong about something. What he minded were the arguments that made him feel like Gai was a stranger to him, and would never be a friend. 

It was oddly intimate, cocooned like this, with the rain smacking down on the concrete just in front of their noses and on the corrugated iron just over their heads. 

Ryu’s voice was only barely loud enough to be heard over the rain. “Thought we were getting better.” 

“I don’t want to be in love with you,” Gai said jerkily. 

Ryu stiffened, blinking rapidly as he tried to figure out what the heck was happening. How did Gai want him to respond? How did he want to respond? “Then don’t be in love with me. It’s not a requirement of being a Jetman.” 

There was an irritated groan, and suddenly Gai’s mouth covered his, and Gai’s body was pressing his into the door! Gai smelled of good cigarettes and those ham sandwiches he’d taken to lately. Ryu froze for a moment, then his arms came up and he kissed back. The rain hit his fingertips on Gai’s back. 

“I don’t want to be in love with you if you’re going to do stupid things and die like a moron,” Gai said in the end, into the sensitive skin just under Ryu’s ear. He had one hand behind Ryu’s head, gripping fiercely, and the other arm was a solid bar across Ryu’s back. 

It was wonderful. 

“I don’t intend dying, Gai,” Ryu said hoarsely. “And I think you should come to my quarters and discuss it.” 

“Apartment, Ryu. We’re not soldiers,” Gai told him with absolute irritation in his voice, but he wound his fingers through Ryu’s, and they ran for Ryu’s front door together.


End file.
